Gonzo Book

This custom publication was released along with the Speed Art Museum’s exhibition Gonzo! The Illustrated Guide to Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson’s style and energy lent itself well to bright and engaging graphics and printing techniques.

  • Client Speed Art Museum
  • Title Artwork Ralph Steadman
  • Design Carrie Scrufari
  • Print Management Carrie Scrufari

 

The cover featured elements of a hand-drawn exhibition title by artist Ralph Steadman, arranged in an abstract way and printed in neon orange and pink foil on matte black cardstock. It’s not your typical museum exhibition catalogue.

 

The whole book jacket makes a bold and bright statement, just like the exhibition did.

 

The interior of the book carries through the neon colors and bold, newspaper-style typeface. The brush strokes by Ralph Steadman are a connecting element throughout the book design.

 

Whether on brightly colored section dividers or on simpler text-heavy pages, the consistent colors and type bring excitement to each page of the book.

 

The jarring orange on pink color combination used at several points throughout the publication is appropriate for a writer like Thompson, who himself was pretty jarring.

 

Even the layout of something as simple as page numbers is unexpected just like Thompson. Throughout the book, the numbers are on the inside gutter instead of the outer corners.

 

The book isn’t just color and text though—it’s peppered with historical photos from Thompson’s life and work.